Friday, September 14, 2018

Hard Choices All Writers Must Face

When the words flow,
it’s heaven on earth. When they stutter to a halt, the opposite is true. And
the truth is, both of these circumstances are a regular part of the writer’s
life.

We write when we feel
like, and when we don’t; when we’re inspired, and when we’re not. Most of all
we write because we have to. Putting words on paper is life to some of us and
an addiction without a recovery group.

The time to write isn’t
something we find. It’s something we sacrifice for, carving it out of lives
that are as busy as anyone else. I get so weary of wanna-be writers complaining
about no time to write.

I have author friends
who don’t have the time either. One author I know honored a deadline even
though his granddaughter was having brain surgery—he wrote in the hospital waiting
room. Another, a stay-at-home mom, had just the opportunity of a contract and
she wrote in the ten and fifteen minutes breaks available while caring for a
special needs daughter, a preschooler and a toddler.

I could share story
after story after story about how writers I know have sacrificed to follow
their vocation—all true. The truth is that we all have the same 24 hours in a
day and we all have the choice of how to spend them.